I have used Orb, TVersity, WMP, and Playon.

WMP was the simplest to setup and use for music.

TVersity i used a long time ago and wasn't impressed. I have been told newer updates made it much nicer.

Playon has been a dream for Hulu streaming. Well worth the money and is super easy to use.

Orb i originally used to stream my music from my home computer to my work computer (through the net) and it served that function perfectly. Then i noticed my 360 automatically picked up on the Orb server on my computer and could also stream my music. It literally took no setup at all on my end (other than installing the program).

Currently i use Playon and Orb (although admittedly the WMP media sharing is still setup from a couple years ago when i got my 360). I never use WMP so it isn't like i have to run the program regularly.

What I was hoping for was to just be able to, one time, share the folder, and never have to update a program's "music library" again. From the sound of it, I would need to just update WMP and add songs to its library whenever I add them to my PC, which is reasonable. Sucks that I can't just use iTunes for it all.

Seriously, read the links.

Orb does exactly what you are wanting. It runs as a little server on your PC and when your 360 accesses the program it shares whatever is in the directory you chose. So if you add new things in that directory it will be auto-detected.

Once i got things set up i have never had to access a program again. Perhaps it is Orb or perhaps it was my WMP setup but i can see all my music and didn't have to keep updating anything. I also use iTunes for my music collection on the PC so it isn't like i am updating my library in WMP.

For the PS3 I use the PS3 Media Server. I like it much better than TVersity and WMP. Java based and real time browsing of files. For music I set the overlap to 2 seconds so i have almost no lag if any between songs.

As always YMMV.

Agreed... I do the same with tversity... I just setup my iTunes folder to be part of my library, as well as the folder where I dump my avi files. It scans the folders daily and updates its library. The library does not have a copy of the files, etc... its basically an XML manifest of the files and their locations, etc.

We've spent longer talking about it here than it takes to setup any of this software, we've been suggesting.

Just read the links... If you want information on how to setup a file share I can link you to that to, but it won't work... sorry. I haven't read anything on the new iTunes 9 sharing, but I suspect its about the same thing for your other PC's with iTunes installed to stream music from your centralized iTunes library. I think you could share out your library previously, and purchased content to other authorized PC's, so not sure what new features it will have.

But I wouldn't go hold my breath waiting for Apple to work out interoperability with anyone else's products (360, PS3, etc), as that's generally not their game.

I've rarely seen someone come here seeking info and be so closed off to the suggestions, and yet be completely unwilling to do a a little research. Just read the links and play with a couple of the products... then come back and discuss.

The iTunes sharing is what you expect. Basically you turn it on. Then you go to another PC in your network that has iTunes but you don't store your music on. You log into that iTunes and enter in your iTunes account email and password and it lets you stream from the main account to the other.

Helpful for my wife's laptop when all the music is save on the HDD of my desktop.

I think that's somewhat of a ridiculous statement to make. I'm far from closed off to any suggestions, nor am I "unwilling" to do research...I simply haven't had time, and thus was seeking testimonials from people who have done this before. Admittedly, I'm not too keen on testing multiple methods, though...I'd prefer to figure out what the best solution for what I'm looking for is, and then implement it and be done with it.

Exactly. I use the search almost daily and post here more than I should, but every once in a while it's nice to just ask a simple question to get some feedback.

Very true.

So i hear breakneck speed makes Rock Band way easier. It isn't cheating is it?

Apologies, but you certainly came off that way, by replying multiple times with what you didn't want to try and with how you were just looking to share folders, etc. Bottom line, is go read up on a few methods, and pick one. If it works you won't go looking for other methods. I've tried a couple of methods with my 360's.

People's success has varied with different products, depending on their setup, what type of media they have, etc.

Several of us did provide feedback, including links (that include step by step instructions, and screenshots), with multiple methods regarding what was asked.

Wasn't trying to be too harsh in the previous message, but trying to make the point that some review of the options presented was necessary.

Guess I've been spoiled by DVDTalk's posters, and lost some of my tolerance. I need to go put up with some other internet forums for a while to remember what the rest of the internet can be like, and then come back ... again apologies.

Playon is 20 bucks now I believe for a limited time. Tversity is a non timed full version that will never expire. They want you to donate if you like it, but you don't have to.

Does TVersity have plugins for other sites? Playon has some unofficial plugins that let you stream stuff from many other sites. Tonight i set up plugins for Spike, MTV, and a couple sites that have a bunch of Simpsons and South Park.

I did also see they have some plugins for various adult video sites as well if that interest everyone (again all free stuff).

Don't ask me. i use Playon and Ps3 media server :P

I've done some Hulu with Tversity Pro. You can do it with Hulu's RSS feeds or your Hulu queue, rather than a real plug in from what I've seen. I've had varying degress of success with it.

Just use WMP and forget about everything.

WMP is already installed in your PC if you are using Windows. You just select what folders you want to share and WMP will be monitoring them, you don't have sync/update your library everytime you make a change.